Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 6 Don Giovanni

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 13 A performance at the Lyric Opera House has always been a great experience to share with your friends. An exciting family excursion to a Lyric performance at the opera house. magic that has been happening in this house since its opening in 1929. November 4, 2019, marked the 90th birthday of the Lyric Opera House, which opened just six days after the stock-market crash of 1929. Before Lyric made a permanent home here, the building had housed four short-lived opera companies – Chicago Civic Opera, Chicago Grand Opera Company, Chicago City Opera Company, and Chicago Opera Company. The building has also hosted touring companies, plays, films, and at one time even a television studio. Today you can still recognize the limestone colonnade and gilded exterior of the building in television shows like Empire and Chicago Fire . Movie buffs will notice the familiar marble columns inside the grand foyer in the 2016 Jennifer Aniston|Jason Bateman film Office Christmas Party . But even as the building itself serves many purposes, its intended one suits it best: an opera house with seating for an audience of more than 3,500, a backstage large enough for even the grandest set, and of course, premium acoustics. The shape of the Ardis Krainik Theatre makes it possible for audience members in any seat to have an unparalleled experience, in both sight and sound. (To ensure that every moment of your time spent in our house is exceptional, Lyric is installing all-new seats in the theater in anticipation of the 2020|21 season. Patrons can expect more comfort due to the wider width, lumbar support, and state-of-the-art spring technology in the cushions; offset rows for improved sightlines; and better accessibility for our patrons with disabilities.) Lyric has been proud to call this building home for the past 65 years. It’s been the historic site for world premieres, debuts of innumerable major artists, and any number of life-changing moments onstage. Audience members have experienced joy at hearing their favorite singers and discovering new ones. They’ve fallen hopelessly in love in the course of a single performance, and no doubt more than a few hearts have been broken in this theater – a testament to the transformative power of live opera at Lyric. Kyle Flubacker Dan Rest Kyle Flubacker When the two-towered Civic Opera Building was erected in 1929, the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White wanted the building to convey what it described as “the spirit of a community which is still youthful and not much hampered by traditions.” While tradition